Second Chance
by mardel
Summary: Sam and Bailey belong together


  
Second Chance  
by mardel  
  
PG  
  
SBR   
  
Disclaimer: I just borrowed them for the story they are owned by Kronish   
Productions.  
  
Bailey had managed to live through Sam's leaving. He dealt with his sense of   
loss with hard work and whiskey. He didn't become dependant on the alcohol but   
he came close.   
Grace approached him about his drinking and he promised her he wasn't letting it   
get the best of him.   
  
George was the one who finally did what had to be done.  
  
Bailey hardly ever went home for more than a change of clothes. He slept very   
little. What little sleep he did get was on the couch in his office. George was   
there most nights working on new programs he had created, or searching for   
information. They sometimes shared meals, if George offered to bring it back to   
the office. One night Bailey had a particular bad time. George had gone out with   
friends for dinner. It was late and he was going home. But he decided to check at   
work. He knew Bailey was probably there. He hadn't expected to find his boss   
drunk and feeling sorry for himself.  
Frances had canceled her trip home in favor of going away with a new boy friend.  
It had been the last thing Bailey could take.   
  
"Bailey come on you can't do this, and you especially can't do it here."  
  
"Help me out a little here boss, your bigger than me." George struggled with   
Bailey to the parking garage.   
  
"She left Georgie." Bailey kept repeating.  
  
"She left me Georgie, and even my own daughter wants nothing to do with me."  
Bailey moaned, from his slumped position in the passenger side of George's  
car.   
  
"She didn't leave you Bailey, she left to protect Chloe, to get help for Chloe.   
Francis loves you, she is being selfish like all young women are then they have  
a boy friend. Francis still loves you."  
  
"I need a drink."  
  
"I think you have had enough, come on help me get you inside."  
George was able to assist Bailey into his house. It had been years since George   
had been to Bailey's house. He had helped rig it for surveillance when Franny   
had moved in with her father.   
  
"I need another drink." Bailey stumbled to the bar, but found nothing. His   
Jamison's was empty., and he rarely kept anything else on hand.   
  
"Bailey sit down and listen to me. " George guided his boss and friend to the   
couch. He took a seat in the chair next to the couch and took a deep breath.   
"You can't keep this up, I know you love Sam, you probably always will. But she  
is gone, until she contacts us again. Unless you have decided to go against her   
wishes and find her. She explained in the letters she left for us, that she hoped to   
contact us al once Chloe was well again. I still don't understand how cutting all   
ties to the people that love her and Chloe will help Chloe recover from the lies   
Jack made her believe. But the doctors are the best in their field, I checked. "  
  
"I've loved her for so long, at least when she was here I could keep her safe."  
Bailey moaned, his head in his hands.  
  
"She is safe now Bailey, I know. She made you promise not to find her, she didn't   
make me promise. She is fine, Chloe is doing better."  
  
"You've seen them?"   
  
"No, but I have means of checking on them. Bailey you wouldn't want Sam to   
come back and find you like this?"  
  
"No, but if she cared she would have contacted me by now."  
  
"She cares Bailey, every time she looked at you it was there in her eyes. Grace  
and I both saw her love for you. Even John noticed after awhile."  
  
"If I just didn't feel so alone." Bailey whispered.  
  
"You're not alone," George put a hand on Bailey's shoulder.  
"I'm here for you, Grace and John are only a phone call away. Grace tried to help   
and you pushed her away."  
  
Bailey looked up his face streaked with tears, he exhaled shakily.   
"Thanks George, I'll lay off the scotch, if you will do one thing for me?"  
  
"Anything"  
  
"Give me updates on Sam and Chloe, part of the reason this had been so difficult   
was my promise not to check up on them or look for them. If I know they are safe   
and well, I think I can handle it."  
  
"I can do that." George grinned.   
  
:::::::::::::::::::::::::  
  
Six months past, Bailey had finally put the scotch away , he was becoming his   
old self all except for his smile. They never saw him smile. Rachel was fitting in,   
the team members were learning her style. John and Rachel had worked out the   
problem they had over their past relationship. Grace had begun dating, but she   
wasn't ready for anything more than a casual relationship.   
  
George kept taps on Sam and Chloe through contacts in the local police and a   
few other means. Chloe's visits with her physiologist had been reduced to once   
a week.   
  
George called Sam, he felt it was time.  
  
"Hello?"  
"Sam Hi, how are you?"   
"George is that you?"  
"Yeah, it's me I just had to see how you were doing?"  
"Better, Chloe is doing better, how are all of you guys?"  
  
"We are fine, Bailey misses you Sam couldn't you contact him?"  
  
"I turned my back on him when I left George, he doesn't want to hear from me."  
Sam felt like she had betrayed him, when she had chosen to take Chloe to   
Tennessee for treatment. "Bailey hasn't tried to contact me."  
  
"You made him promise not to Sam. He is a man of his word."  
  
"You really think he cares about us, after the way I just left?"  
  
"My God Sam he loves you, he always has and I know you loved him once."   
  
"I still love him George."  
  
"Then you need to come see him. Talk to him. Tell him your sorry for leaving."   
  
"How can I? It's been too long." Sam's voice was breaking up, she was crying.   
  
"No, it hasn't you need to come here and see him. Bring Chloe and she can visit  
her friends. Clear it with her doctor if you need to, but come." George ordered   
her, he was tired of them acting like martyrs.   
  
:::::::::::::::::::  
  
Sam had called and warned George that she was planning a visit if Bailey and   
the rest of the team were in town. George assured her they had all just returned  
from a case and should be in the building. He kept watch on both Bailey and the   
elevator doors from his desk. Bailey was working, his jacket off and his shirt   
sleeves rolled up.   
  
When Sam stepped out of the elevator she stepped back into the corner  
of the hall and looked the room over. She waved to George, but held her finger to  
her lips, to keep him from saying anything. She wanted to see Bailey first.   
Sam could see Bailey through the glass wall of his office, his broad back bent   
over his desk. Her stomach knotted up at her first sight of him. She didn't know  
how she had ever summoned up the strength to leave him. She loved him, she   
wanted to feel his arms around her, she missed his hugs more than anything.   
  
Sam walked towards Bailey's office, his head came up just as she walked   
through his door.   
  
"Sam?!"  
  
"Hello Bailey do you have a minute?" He looked wonderful to her, her heart was   
in her mouth. She couldn't speak.   
  
"Sam!" he was around his desk and hugging her tightly. Sam melted in his   
embrace she felt at peace in his arms.   
  
"I'm sorry." she told him while still in his arms.  
  
Bailey was so glad to see her, he didn't release his her from his embrace.  
"You're alright, Chloe is alright?" he asked easing back to look at her face.  
His large hands still holding on to her.  
  
"We are both fine, I didn't come for help, I came to apologize to you."  
  
"You don't have to apologize Sam, I understood why you left."  
  
"Yes, Bailey I do, I owe you more than just goodbye." Sam looked into his dark  
brown eyes, she saw herself mirrored there.   
  
"You don't owe me anything." Bailey let his hands drop, he was thinking she had   
come to see him out of a sense of guilt.  
  
"I've missed you, I never should have made you promise not to contact me.  
I was wrong." Sam moved towards his desk her back to him.  
  
"Fine, if it makes you feel better apology accepted."  
  
"It doesn't make me feel better, I'm hurt that I hurt you, I wasn't thinking clearly.   
But you don't want to hear that. I guess I shouldn't have come after all."  
  
"Sam wait." Bailey reached for her hand as she brushed past him. She looked at   
him waiting. He didn't know to say, he loved her but he had never been able to   
tell her before. He couldn't tell her now, he let her go. Again.  
  
George was watching, he saw Sam leave.  
  
"Sam, Grace wants to see you."  
  
"Hi, George you look good, have you been taking care of yourself?"  
George hugged Sam, her chin resting on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and   
hugged him in return. She was devastated by Bailey's reaction to her apology.   
"I think I ruined everything."  
  
"You haven't come on." George took her down to Grace's lab.  
  
"Sam you're back!"  
  
"I'm just visiting, how have you been Grace?"  
  
"Busy, Jackson is growing, he is learning to walk. How is Chloe?"  
  
"She is doing better?"  
  
George broke in" Sam just talked to Bailey it didn't go well."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"I apologized to him for leaving the way I did. He said I didn't owe him anything.   
Sam chocked back a sob.  
  
"You two are impossible, you still love him don't you? Stupid question you   
wouldn't be upset if you didn't." Grace handed Sam a tissue.   
  
"I do but it's to late."  
  
"It is never to late honey, not for this. George come help me with these two."  
Grace took Sam by the hand and went back up the hall to Bailey's office.   
He behind his desk again, head in hands.   
  
"Bailey, sorry for busting in here like this, but I have had enough." She pulled   
Sam into his office and told George to close the door after him.   
"This is an intervention. Sam came back to see you. She loves you. I know you  
love her, now stop all of this nonsense and tell her."  
  
"Grace you just can't order me to tell her." Bailey stood, he wasn't use to getting  
orders.  
  
"Grace please, you can't make him say what he doesn't feel." Sam pulled her   
had from her friends, she just wanted to crawl off and die. She was mortified at   
the situation.   
  
"He feels it Sam, you can see it in his eyes when ever he looks at you."   
George spoke up, he knew Bailey loved her.   
  
Sam looked at Bailey, he looked dazed.   
"I never said I didn't love you Sam, I do, but you don't feel the same. I don't want  
you to feel gratitude to me."  
  
"You love me, how can you? All I have ever given you is problems, I lean on you   
for comfort and strength, I don't give you anything in return."  
  
"Sam you don't love someone for what they give you. You love them for who they   
are." Bailey came around his desk and took her hands.  
  
"I love you Bail, I have for longer than I can remember."  
  
"That's better, come on George our work is done here." Grace smiled and   
followed him out the door.   
  
Bailey kissed Sam once they were alone. He had wanted to so many times.   
Her lips were warm and soft, the kiss started off tentatively then changed,  
to more passion. Sam clung to his shoulders, her senses reeling.   
Bailey ended the kiss, they were not in the right place for this type of behavior.  
  
"We need to talk, to be alone." Bailey told her, his eyes so full of love Sam   
couldn't believe she had missed it before.   
  
"Chloe's doctors said we can move back soon, her treatment is going well and   
they didn't intend for us to stay away from home forever."  
  
"We will work it all out, nothing is going to keep us apart now."  
  
Bailey hugged Sam close. He was overjoyed that she was back in his life.   
  
end  



End file.
